INGLEWOOD.- About to play his 22nd All-Star Game, LeBron James He stated this Sunday that he has not made a decision about his future in the NBA beyond this season with the Los Angeles Lakers.
“King” James, 41, will become a free agent at the end of this season and his options include renewing his commitment to the Lakers, joining another team or retiring.
“Yes, I want to live,” said the forward when asked if he had defined his plans for the next campaign.
“When I know, you will know. I don’t know, I have no idea. I just want to live, that’s all,” concluded the basketball league’s all-time leading scorer.
This season James sports formidable averages of 22 points and 7.1 assists and continues to star in historic nights, like last Thursday when he became the oldest player to achieve a triple double.
The forward assured that he is completely focused on leading the Lakers in the closing of the regular phase and the playoffs, being optimistic about their chances as long as they can turn the page on the injuries that their figures, LeBron included, have suffered.
“This is starting for the postseason, it has nothing to do with that,” James said, rejecting that he feels any special urgency at this end of the campaign.
“Same motivation, same mentality. We have passed the marathon (regular phase) and now the sprint is about to begin,” he stated.
Expectant for the new All Star format
James appeared before the press at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, south of Los Angeles, one day after the rest of the participants in the 75th edition of the All-Star Game this Sunday.
Although his performance remains extraordinary at this point in his career, LeBron was left out of the All Star Game headlines for the first time since 2004 and had to be among the reserves chosen by the coaches.
This Sunday he will be part of the oldest team of the three in contention in the All Star, one of which will bring together international stars for the first time.
LeBron conceded that this new format should be given a new opportunity, although he was in favor of recovering the rivalry between the Eastern and Western conferences.
“East-West is definitely a tradition. It’s been very good (…) But they’re trying something. We’ll see what happens,” he said.
“But America against the world… The world is gigantic compared to the United States, so I’m trying to understand how that makes sense, but I don’t want to go too deep into that,” he noted.
